Hammock Days

“Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability.”

~Sam Keen
Hot summer afternoons and sultry evenings are made for daydreaming. The northeasterners can have their winter’s rest, when drifts of snow close their gardens, and they stay inside to shop from garden catalogs. I will take our hot summers, where we can lay outdoors in a hammock, to daydream of holidays past and seasons to come.

As a child on summer vacations, we used to pick wild blackberries from along roadsides in the Oregon forest. We loved play-acting that we were pioneers in search of dinner. But I harbored a secret fear that the bears would come for the berries, and coming upon this very plump girl-child, want to eat me instead. So the plan I never told my parents about was that in case of emergency, I would feed them my little sister in hopes this satisfied their hunger.

On these summer forays, we decided there is nothing better to eat than blackberries, barely warm from the sun. We would pick them in the morning. What we didn’t snack on right away, our mother would serve them that night as a simple dessert to eat while we told stories in front of the campfire. Just before dinner, the rinsed berries were sweetened with just enough sugar to render natural syrup. When we were done eating and the campsite was straight, we would share a small carton of vanilla ice cream with the berries spooned over.
Picking berries is a wonderful childhood memory. But now that I am an adult, I know that dealing with cane-type berries in the home landscape needs some planning to be a happy experience. As a plants, think of berries as mint with BIG thorns.

So if you choose to add them to the garden, contain them in a pot or barrel. Blackberry canes are armed with SHARP thorns that aim for any gap in gardening gear. They will attack: so dress for battle or you many be scratched from head to toe.

In twenty-two years I never planted any. Yet I started battling them about a decade ago. Right now I am ahead of the blackberries attempt to take over the canyon: maybe. There are a couple brambles with sycamore-sized leaves propped up against the fence near the apricot tree. I’ve called a temporary truce with these. If this small patch will stay put, their fruit will be allowed to ripen to dark, juicy offerings. Then early on summer mornings I can race the bunnies to the sumptuous berries.

Childhood memories are important. It is a gift to our children that we introduce them to nature through our gardens. If you have a spot for a hammock, treat your family to one. Pull out the garden catalogs and share. Decide together what plants will turn your plot of land in to Eden. Put post it notes on the pages with plants that you will order when the summer sun isn't too searing. For now, put the garden tools down and enjoy the relaxed rhythm of summer.

Photos of little girl and catalog by Gene Sasse. Used with permission.